Tag Archives: airplane

Getting to Glovers!!! (Day 1)

Hi all, it’s Faith here with Day 1 updates from our Belize trip!!!

Today, we spent such long time just trying to get here, so I’m a little worried about the intensity for the next few days, but I didn’t  sign up for this thinking it would be easy! Here is what happened:

The whole group made it on time and to the airport by 8:00, but not even 10 minutes in, we ran into our first problem– the professors hadn’t filled out the paperwork to bring their kids!

So, while we were reorganizing the class gear to be under 50lbs, the professors were rushing to get their kids on board. Don’t worry though, we all made it on the plane, and had time to grab panda express for breakfast.

After some seat and boarding pass complications, we made it to the Belize city airport, and went through an hours worth of customs! Then we temporarily lost Professor Solomon (which was kind of my fault because I didn’t follow him outside, but no one has to know).

After a brief stop at the supermarket to grab snacks,  we headed to the boat for a 4 hour boat ride. On the way there, Dr. Correa’s son was telling Maegan and I that he wanted to see rollercoaster-like waves once we passed the barrier reef. We got kinda confused, but he was right, and we saw huge waves!

Not much happened after the boat trip. We just got our rooms, ate some yummy dinner, went over the station’s basics, and admired lots and lots and lots of hermit crabs. Fun fact: on the way back from the shower a giant ghost crab ran into me.

Sadly there were no echinoderms today because we were on land, but I’ll let you know what we find tomorrow.

I saw one reptile, a common house gecko Hemidactylus frenatus on the shower wall. He was cute and although patternless.

Quote of the day: “Don’t just write ‘Oh, I saw that dang tree again!’ I can confirm *laughs*  there are gonna be trees in the rainforest, thank goodness” -Dr. Solomon

The Common house Gecko on the shower wall (Hemidactylus frenatus)
One of many, many, many giant hermit crabs

Shenanigans on Airplanes

Sadly, today was our last day. We set out from Middle Caye at 7am and stopped at two other Cayes on our way back to Belize City.

The first Caye we stopped at was Carrie Bow, which is a Smithsonian Institute research site. It’s a super small island near South Water Caye, and it’s beautiful. They gave us a tour and we got to talk to a crab researcher who has been working there almost since they opened in 1972.

The second Caye we stopped at was Twin Caye, which is a mangrove island split down the middle by a channel. We walked in the mangroves and I got to see the pores that the red mangroves use for getting oxygen. We also got to see the yellow leaves that the mangrove diverts salt to in order to save the rest of its leaves.

After walking in the mangroves we snorkeled through the channel. I sadly did not see any sea hares, but I did see some clams on the mangrove roots. I also saw the sponges that mangrove roots have a symbiosis with, a whole ton of baby fish (mangroves are fish nurseries), some magnificent feather duster worms, and a huge barracuda. The barracuda was hiding in the roots of a mangrove and I almost didn’t see it until I was basically right in its face. It flashed its teeth at me as I backed up.

After the Cayes we had our last meal in Belize at Calypso. They took a predictably long time, but it was still very tasty having fresh fish while looking out at the ocean it came from. Our plane ride was short and bittersweet, and although we had to sit on the tarmac for awhile, it seems like our curse of terrible transportation has been defeated.

I’m sad to be going, but I’m sure I’ll be back.